Hamilton Not Giving It His 100% According To Boutsen

Thursday, 11 April 2024 at 13:30

Former F1 driver and three-time race winner Thierry Boutsen suggested in a recent interview that Lewis Hamilton may not be giving his all to Mercedes at the moment.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is currently in a strange spot. On the one hand, he's really struggling at Mercedes.

On the other hand, his decision to move on to Ferrari seems to be the right one, considering the car's performance at this stage of the season.

Nevertheless, as he showed after the Japanese Grand Prix, he is growing tired of being asked Ferrari-related questions. David Coulthard has suggested that the 39-year-old is already at Ferrari in his head and has moved on from Mercedes.

However, former F1 driver Thierry Boutsen suggested he doesn't feel like that would be the case. He said in an interview with PlanetF1.com:

"I don't think he's moving on from Mercedes. But I see that, with all his experience and his age, it's a little bit more difficult to give it 100 percent."

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George Russell also defended his more experienced teammate, saying nothing has changed about how he work with the team. Boutsen, though, feels like the seven-time World Champion is having trouble and is not giving it his 100%.

"Maybe he's only driving at 98 percent. We saw it during the race [in Japan] when he asked whether he should let George [Russell] past him. A few years back, he would have been fighting like hell to stay ahead of him."

In fact, the two almost collided during their fierce battle at Suzuka Circuit during the 2023 season. On the other hand, Mercedes's team principal suggested that Hamilton had a different setup, which didn't work, and that was the reason he let his teammate through. Boutsen added:

"Now, when it gets worse like this one, he gets in a bad situation and he just gives up and gives Russell a chance to be better than him and to help the team to be better because he feels that he's not in a position – or not capable – to perform as well, for whatever reason."